Where

has December gone. It seems it was a couple of days ago we were setting up the village and hanging lights outside. Every year we say the same thing.
Christmas weekend was excellent with Christmas eve dinner at our house. We didn't have the typical puertorican dinner, we opted instead to have a mix of foods that resemble nothing of a PR Christmas dinner. Ham, brocoli and cheese casserole, baked potatoes...and everything was excellent. We had 3 different Christmas ales on hand, wine and I made "store bought" eggnog and mixed cocunt rum in it and tasted...I'm not going there. All in all a great night with tthe family.

Did a lot of riding and put in 9 hrs of riding outside with the nice weather we had with the big one a 4hr 13 minute ride on Monday. Winter seems to be getting ready to hammer us with our first measurable snow of the year yesterday. The drive home wasn't fun yesterday, but made it in one pc.
Here's a few pics from my rides this weekend.

Checked it twice...

Making a list and checking it twice, trice...
Races will be added, substracted, missed, forgotten...

With the "good" riding temps and weather we are having I've been able to ride outside a lot more than last year when it seemed we had snow on the ground from November to March.
My first big training block in preparation for TSE is 7 days of riding in Florida in February including the Croom ride, after that is a 4 day weekend in Ashevile in early March.
I'm still debating what races to do before TSE but here's and early list:
The Lowell 50 gravel road 
The Cohutta Big frog 65
Stoney Creek 6hrs
Maybe Race at the lakes and the Covered bridge series.
After TSE I don't know how many more races  I'll enter. Money is going to be tight with all the expenses involving TSE but I'm sure I'll do a few more to take advantage of my form and training after. Many spin classes to do.
Hope you are having a great Christmas with your new toys.

Small gestures

This Christmas season fight the urge to be rude, to be the first at the gas pump or the cashier line, to yell at somebody who cut you off, to yell at your kids or family, to run the red light almost causing an accident, to text and drive, to use the phone while driving for that matter, don't speed up so the car next to you can't get in front of you. A small gesture doesn't matter how small will make somebody do the same, open a door for somebody, let somebody in on the road from the gas station, have fun with the family, turn the cell phone off for a while and forget about facebook, be happy, smile more, IT IS the Season.
Why I'm writing this, why not? We are always in a hurry thinking only about what we want and don't give a darn about anybody or anything else. Take a deep breath and do it, it doesn't cost you anything and you'll feel better.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE

I had to post this

Don't let this happen to you

The "HO" goes to a wedding.

Aussies do like their muscle cars.

Pic provided my my friend Darren in the "Land Down Under"

Beautiful car.

Is it a pattern

I just realized that over the last few weeks most of my posts have been on Mondays. It is a pattern that I aim to break. I don't want to dissapoint all my readers...all 1 of them.
It was a good weekend for riding, decent temps a nd not too wet. Took the "Ho" out on his first ever reide with falling snow and he was like a little kid, "Oh look, snow on my tires". Where have you've been all your life? He had one of those rides where his legs didn't want to go  anywhere for the entire ride. After I left him by his car about to collapse I put in another hour and fiished with 3.5 for the day. Sunday it was some of the same but a shorter 1.5hr ride. All 5 hrs on the 29er single speed which is all I ride all winter long. Easy to clean after a ride and no gears to mess with.
spent almost 4 hrs on Friday chaging tires and I'm not done, I'm yet to put the roller tires on my road bike. Installed 2 Schwalbes Rocket Rons on the Jamis getting it ready for the Florida trip in February and 2 Kenda Karmas 1.95's on the SS for better rolling resistance.

I can't wait to hit the road and head to FL. and ride offroad in preparation for TSE. Croom, Santos, Alafia, Boyete and more are the trails we are going to hit during our stay there. Saturday Feb 4th we are doing the Croom Ride  which is only 3 miles from where we are staying. Hopefully we'll have good weather on our drive down. For now, we are happy with the weather we are having which is good enough to ride without getting frostbite in your...

Company/department party

lots of good food.
last night the wife and I baked a couple of Flans for my company or department Christmas party. The receipe we followed had a typo and we double on the ingredients when we didn't hsve to. The wife did say that it looked like we had too much. After an hr in the oven we are exited to see how is going to look...and taste; I stuck the knife in it and it had not harden at all. She's starting to get frantic, is 9pm, she calls every latin bakery in town and a restaurant, nobody answers and the restaurant doesn't have one to sell. Last recourse, I'll buy a pumkin and apple pies at the 24hr supermarket in the morning. I go out and buy some of the ingredients again and we start from scratch again. It was 1am when I went to bed and she went to bed a lot later and got up at 5:30am to flip the darn things.

I'm glad to say both flans turned out really good. They were half gone before I was able to take a pic,

Saddle sores are painful

And that's all I have to say about that.

GB answers and more

First one: False. Christopher Columbus took the name from his own patron saint, and it was later shortened from St. Christopher to St. Kitts
Two: C. Lawrence Rockefeller who first visited in 1952, bought up much of the island, created a resort on part of it, and donated the rest as a U.S.national park.

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Back on the rollers last night and didn't ride off them like I did on Monday.
Watching more of the Iceman videos.
the workout went like this:
10min warm-up on the 23
starting on the 23 and then shifting up every 3 minutes for 24
2 min fast steady tempo
1 minute slow (er) but steady
that was 24 mins.
Then started the same but shifting down every min. for 16 mins
1 minute fast steady tempo
1 minute slow(er) but steady
10 minute cool down
1 good hr on the rollers with no accidents.

Global Intelligence

Before I post Global intelligence I'll tell you what happened on Monday night during my workout.
A lot of us ride bikes a lot of us have crashed on the road and off road. How about crashing while riding the rollers. I was watching streaming videos of this years Iceman race in Michigan where my team mate Ross is one of the main characters and rolled right off the rollers. Its a series of 4 25 minute videos great for doing intervals. Well as I was ramping up the speed on one of my 1 minute intervals the rider with the helmet mounted cam and Ross where on a turn and guess what, I turned with them, rolled right off the rollers and landed on the rollers. I just laid there and laughed, what else could I do. Hopefully I'll remember not to turn tonight.

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Q: True or False?
St Kitts, a cloud-crowned volcanic island in the Lesser Antilles, is named for Catherine of Aragon, the Spanish princess who married Engalnd's Henry VIII


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Q: St. John, in the U.S. Virgin Islands, is associated with what well-known American family?
a) The Bushes  b) The Kennedys  c)The Rockefellers  d) The Roosevelts

Saturday Trail Day

Saturday was a trail work day at the new trail in the Mill Stream reservation at "H" hill which is not going to be called that anymore once the trail is open.
Rode the long way from home (8miles, normally 4) with 25lbs strapped to my back with work clothes boots etc. and rode back the same way to put in a few miles on the bike.
It was around 32-35 degrees when we started and high 40's when I went home after the lunch which was provided by the Metroparks.
About 50 people showed up and a lot got done. The trail is going to be about 8-9 miles long of smooth swoopy lines. The park wants the trail to be begginer friendly and that is fine with me, the park is opening up to MTB'ers and that's a step forward. The trail is going to be open to hikers which may bring some complaints but we need to get along and work together towards the building of more trails in the Metropark system. I went home and sat on a chair for a 1/2 hr before I could do anything, I was beat and I only worked for about 3hrs a lot of people stayed until 3:30. I forgot how hard trail work is, but I was happy I was able to make it. Another trail work day is scheduled for next Saturday and I'm planning on making it later in the morning after my spinning classes.
Is going to be cold on Saturday, 31 for the high, but looking forward to the ground getting hard and no snow so I can do some off road soon.

Nice long holiday

Last week I took Wednesday off to make it a nice long weekend .
Wednesday moning my wife an I met with our future son in law for breakfast because he wanted to ask permission to  marry our daughter. It was nice to see a young man asking the old fashion way. After I showed him my collectors edition Magnum 357 we said yes, you have permission to ask her. Well, I don't have a gun and he was already shaking. Saturday we met them and his parents for lunch and had a good time. His whole family loves her and we couldn't ask for a better person to marry her. We are happy.

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Wednesday afternoon rode a good 25 miles on the 29er SS with a 34/16 road gear and I think I'm going to keep that set-up for winter training.
Thursday rode with part of the "depends" gang on the bike and hike on the annual Turkey ride. Rode to Silver lake in Stow had a picnic and turned around with Ross and Jeff. Ended up with another good 31 miles for the day on the SS again. At times I was spinning my brains out but liking it.
Friday rode with The Ho which bought a nice entry level 29er for winter riding. I took him out on his maiden voyage and he enjoyed his first time on a mountain bike. (No pic here, next time)
Saturday was a ride to "H" hill to check out the new trail in the Metroparks. Found it was dry enough and rode half of it with minimal mud. This is going to be a great trail for beginners and hopeully attract more women to the sport. I raced in Michigan a few times this past summer and I noticed more women racing there than we get here for races.
All weekend long the wife and I worked on our Christmas Village and we think it turned out real good.
it grew from a 3x6 sheet of plywood to a 4x8 and 3 small tables.
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A long weekend in pictures.

 Picnic at Silver Lake

 Santa had a little too much eggnog

 The Toad king favorite shop

 How it all started

And finally from my friend Darren in Australia.
How to change a tire on a model T-Ford.
It took him most  of the day.

Notice the old license plates that his dad has collected over the years and of course, the "token" bike hanging in the garage.
Good job my friend, would love to take a ride in that T-Ford, take good care of it.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

I'm thankful for family and the food that we can put on our tables.
Donate to shelters.

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Had yesterday off and rode for a couple of hrs. on the SS.
I'll probably be riding the 29er SS more this off season than the 26er. Normally I like to ride the 26er for the fast cadence and I probably will sometimes but I'm going to spin my brains out on the 29er. Riding early today for a couple of hrs and then staying home and spend a nice quiet day with the wife.

Understanding Women

The Book, has finally arrived at your favorite bookstore. Get your copy, is never too late.

Sunny, windy, dry, warm. Global Intelligence

That's how the weekend went.
Friday all I did was upper body and some plyos in the early morning and then we had an early Thanksgiving dinner. We had company from PR and they were leaving on Saturday and we decided to have it early since everybody is going to be doing their own thing on Thanksgiving weekend.
Saturday it was off to Mohican which was dry and fast..for whoever wanted to go fast. 4 of us had planned to meet in the paking lot at 11am and 3 more showed up and we rode together for most of the first 11 miles and then we kind of split off and rode at our own pace. The stops were a little too long for me and my back gets stiff if I stop for too long, so I kept going. The last 3 miles were painful and I could feel it. Until my legs get used to all the weight lifting I'm doing it's going to be like that.  Sunday it was off to Findley to ride the single speed and the trail was dry and fast. The leaves were all blow off the trail by Nab and his crew which do a fantastic job maintaining this trail. Did a 48 minute first lap and then died a slow agonizing death on the second lap, 55 minutes, the legs finally said enough is enough.

What kind of winter is it going to be?

My friend in Australia sent me a pic of a vintage track bike he saw in a for sale add.

Never seen one like it.
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Global Intelligence:
Q: Victoria Falls, which lie on the border of Zimbawe and Zambia, were given their english name, honoring Queen Victoria, by a British explorer.
Who was this loyal Subject of the queen?
a) James Cook  b)David Livingstone  c)Cecil Rhode  d)Henry Stanley


Q: One of the highlights of the famous 17 mile drive, the Lone Cypress is a symbol of Carmel-by-the Sea, California, whose winning combination of beach, ocean and weathered trees have long drawn artists and the well to do. Which of this Hollywood celebrities once served as its mayor?
a)sonny Bono  b)Clint Eastwood  c)Ronald Reagan  c)Arnold Schwarzenegger


Have a great week.

Veterans Day

I think about my dad who's 93 years old and a korean War Veteran. He never really talked much about what when on there, that is war. Most veterans would like to forget...But we cannot forget them who fight for what we have. Salute a veteran today.

The week after and gadgets

It's been a week since the bike/car accident and we finally found how the person is doing. Monday evening we were able to pull the accident report off the Brecksville police web-site and his phone was listed. We called but nobody answer and no voicemail came on. Later that evening after the phone rings at it was the phone umber we called, I was in no mood to talk then and let it go to voice mail but no message was left. The next day our insurance advised us not to call again that they would handle it from there. We were glad he was "ok", broken cheek bone, broken hand, chipped tooth and other scrapes and lacerations. Here is a pic of the door jamb he hit with his cheekbone.

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On the other hand I convinced the wife to buy me my Christmas present now, so I got this:

Haven't had a chance to play with it but I'm planning to test it out during the "Red Flannel" ride on Sunday. The last organized ride of the year until the "first ride" of the year on January 1st.

Should be a great day for a ride with temps expected to rise into the mid 50's and sunny.  We have a good size group going. I'm hoping my back doesn't give up during the ride. A few years ago I had a herniated disk and that side has been really sore lately. It is so sore I was planning on riding in to work today with the weather as nice as it is right now and when the alarm went off this morning I had to say no after I had laid everything out last night.

If my back gets better I'm planning on doing this workout 3-4 times a week.

Yes I'm an insane fan. I tell you what, I did the fit test just to try it out and immediately after I  finished I went upstairs and gave my daughter a hug and told her I was very proud of her, she has lost 17lbs doing this workout. It is not easy and I only did 25 minutes.  Hummmm, maybe that's why my back hurts more today that two days ago. I think it'll fit in nicely with my regular workouts since I do a lt of plyometrics in the off season and this is all about plyos and cardio.
The weather is great, get out and ride. Have a great weekend.

Will it be better today

After the accident yesterday I turned around and came back home. Then I did what I do best when I'm upset, stressed out or unhappy, I ate and ate and ate like there was no tomorrow. I ate breakfast again as soon as I got home and then ate the food I had for lunch at work at 9am. Then some more food at 11am and just sat around. All I could hear and feel was the thump of my car being hit. Finally I got dressed and went out for a two hour ride to clear my head. Although I chose to ride the path north to the boat docks I found myself yelling at people talking on the phone while at a few of the intersections the path crosses. Then I saw a few riders without hemets on the road and I'm try to figure out why.
From this day on I will not wave, nod or even acknowledge any rider that doesn't have a helmet on while riding on the road. Say what you want I don't care. Yes, it is your choice if you want to be the village idiot.

Black Friday, car/bike accident

I haven't been able to ride to work lately because the only days that have been
dry and sunny have been mostly Tuesdays and Thursdays, and that's when I do the spinning classes. Thought about it last night, but with partially wet roads and overnight frost, I didn't want to hit that thin film that forms on the roads fall and get hurt, so I  decided to drive. I take the same route even when I drive to work because it is a much nicer and peaceful ride.
Nothing nice or peaceful about today's ride. As I was driving across 21 or Brecksville Rd., I was broadsided by a cyclist. At first I thought it was a deer since there are so many of them in that area, but then I realized it was a person and a bike laying on the east side of the intersection. I ran there and called 911 right away. I never saw him and after a close inspection to make sure he was somewhat responsive, I noticed neither him nor the bike had any lights or reflectors of any kind. Four squad cars and EMS were there immediately and started working on him and asking him questions. He was riding his bike to the bus stop to pick up the bus for his ride downtown to work at the government bldg. He was not wearing a helmet either, and from what the cops told me, it looks like his head hit the top of my door.They also found a chipped tooth on top of my car under the bike racks. Ouch!
And to think that I've been made fun off because when I ride to work, I have between 5 and 7 blinking lights on the bike and backpack. But I have also had drivers slow down and tell me they can see me from a mile away.
Needless to say, I'm all shook up as I sit here writing this. I have been hit and have hit cars riding a bike, so I know how it is.
Please wear your helmet and have more than one blinking light front and rear. Learn from what happens to others. Not that I want anything to happen to anyone, but it is a lesson for all of us who ride bikes, it just happens it was me today. It could be YOU tomorrow.

Fall pics

Haven't had that many chances to take good fall pics this fall. It's either too dark, raining no camera or phone to take them. I don't think the colors have been as bright as last year, although yesterday's sunny weather did bring some brightness out. It doesn't matter, fall colors bring a certain peace when you stop to appraciate them, so stop and do it, take time out of your busy life and take a deep breath.

The pics are basically from the same area on 3 different days in Brecksville.

Don't drink and fly

Have a safe landing zone

From great to half good

Two weekends ago it  was great, this past weekend, not so great. Saturday was windy were they had to fish the little kids playing soccer out of the woods after the winds deposited them there. Sunday, rain all day.
Well, Saturday wasn't that bad, it was my nephews wedding and I was very proud of both of them. I stared at this for most of the night.

Yuengling beer, just a few of them, 3 to be exact and it was enough. I like a good beer once in a while.

Sunday, I slept in until 9 after going to bed around 1:30am. Didn't do anything the whole day, except eat and watch football. Great Sunday indeed. Too many M & M's and chocolate kisses, felt like I ate half a pound of chocolate. Oh well, got it out of the way and back on a regular trainig routineto get ready for

TSE.

Great weekend

What a great weekend we just had, close to 80degrees both Saturday and Sunday. Got up early Saturday headed to the soccer fields to set up the goals and watched the sun fire up the leaves on the trees. Went home loaded the car and headed down to Mohican on the single speed. Temps were on the cool side but got hot i a hurry by the end of the ride. Sunday, more of the same. Met Ken in Medina and down to Mohican again, better take advantage of the dry weather, it may not last long. The trail was so dry it was actually dusty in some places. Had a great time both days. The leaves and the pine needles covering the trail made it worth the drive both days.
Hopefully the weather will cooperate and I can make it back Saturday.

One pic from the Michigan race. Going up a short but very steep little hill. I did got off the bike and ran it up, it was faster than trying to ride it. It was cold and windy, look at the banner flags.